Could mini deserts aid in the race to Net Zero?
Having just experienced the hottest day on record in the UK, thoughts may drift towards the desert. But a new heat storage facility constructed in Finland could bring the desert closer to home (although thankfully a contained desert).
I am talking about sand batteries. A tank of sand that is heated with excess renewably sourced electricity and which can store that heat for weeks, or even months. The heat can then be released into the local heat network as required.
To date, focus has been on lithium-ion batteries for the storage of renewable energy. However, as reported by Dezeen, Markku Ylönen of Polar Night Energy has explained that sole reliance on lithium-ion batteries in unfeasible due to cost and lack of sufficient quantities of lithium. I also posted last week on the issues associated with lithium-ion batteries, which you can read here. In contract sand is fairly cheap and plentiful (taking account of the fact that many types of sand can be used – including that rejected by the construction industry). The technology is also said to produce only low carbon emissions, with the majority coming from construction and transporting the sand.
Whilst the conversion back to electricity is not particularly effective, a huge amount of energy (and the resulting carbon emissions) is used to heat homes and other buildings in the UK each year. It is hoped that sand batteries can form part of an array of storage solutions.
It remains to be seen whether we will see mini (contained) deserts popping up around the UK over the next few years. But it is certainly an interesting technology to explore.
Subcribe to news and viewsEven even if we dug out all the lithium in the world, we couldn't build batteries big enough to accommodate all the fluctuation in renewable energy production
https://www.dezeen.com/2022/07/14/finnish-sand-battery-solution-renewable-energy-storage-technology-news/?utm_content=Dezeen+Agenda+22+CID_d7b6bbb70dce69eca7c0c32b9002a9b6&utm_term=worlds+first+renewable+sand+battery+was+revealed